PA MediaConservative chief Kemi Badenoch has referred to as for a full nationwide public inquiry into the UK’s “rape gangs scandal”.
It comes after House Workplace minister Jess Phillips rejected Oldham Council’s request for a government-led inquiry into historic youngster sexual exploitation – saying the council ought to lead it as a substitute.
Her resolution, taken in October, was reported by GB Information on Wednesday after which picked up by Elon Musk on his social media platform X, and several other senior Tories.
Shadow House Workplace minister Chris Philp instructed the BBC the time had come for a nationwide inquiry, with powers to “compel witnesses to come back ahead”, to get “to the reality”.
The House Workplace has been approached for remark.
A Labour spokesperson mentioned: “The House Workplace helps police investigations and impartial inquiries to get reality and justice for victims.
“This authorities is working urgently to strengthen the regulation in order that these crimes are correctly reported and investigated.”
Posting on X, Badenoch mentioned: “Trials have taken place everywhere in the nation in recent times however nobody in authority has joined the dots. 2025 should be the yr that the victims begin to get justice.”
There have been quite a few investigations into the systematic rape of younger girls by organised gangs, together with in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.
The sexual abuse of younger women by grooming gangs has fuelled plenty of far-right campaigns which have centered on instances of large-scale abuse carried out primarily by males of Pakistani descent.
An inquiry into abuse in Rotherham discovered 1,400 kids had been sexually abused over a 16-year interval, predominantly by British Pakistani males.
An investigation in Telford discovered that as much as 1,000 women had been abused over 40 years – and that some instances had not been investigated due to “nervousness about race”.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA), which revealed its closing report in 2022, knitted a number of of those inquiries collectively alongside its personal investigations.
Professor Alexis Jay, who led the inquiry, mentioned in November she felt “pissed off” that none of its 20 suggestions to deal with abuse had been carried out greater than two years later.
She mentioned: “It is a troublesome material, however it’s important that there is some public understanding of it.
“However we will solely do what we will to press the federal government to have a look at the supply of all of this.
“It would not want extra session, it doesn’t want extra analysis or dialogue, it simply must be achieved.”
Philp told Radio 4’s World at One programme he supported Oldham Council’s name for a government-led inquiry, regardless of the earlier Conservative authorities rejecting an analogous request from an Oldham councillor in 2022.
However, he added, “rape gangs” had been “an even bigger query than simply Oldham”.
Requested why the Tory authorities had not carried out a nationwide public inquiry into such gangs, Philp pointed to IICSA however added “I do not suppose it was, frankly, as complete on this subject because it ought to have been”.
Philp mentioned: “We want a correct nationwide inquiry to have a look at all of those points throughout all the cities affected. And I am afraid to say there are one thing like 15 to 25 completely different cities concerned, masking 1000’s and 1000’s of victims.”
Questions concerning the conduct of native authorities, the police and social care wanted answering on a nationwide scale, he argued. Philp additionally didn’t rule out the inquiry trying on the function of Sir Keir Starmer, who was director of public prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.
He mentioned an inquiry ought to look at why perpetrators in “grooming gangs and rape gangs” seemed to be “overwhelmingly of South Asian background”.
In a put up on X, shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Kearns urged Phillips to launch “the ethnicity knowledge” the Conservatives had begun accumulating, about individuals arrested for and charged over youngster sexual exploitation and grooming.
Responding to Badenoch, Reform UK chief Nigel Farage mentioned: “Speak is reasonable. The Conservatives had 14 years in authorities to launch an inquiry.
“The institution has failed the victims of grooming gangs on each degree.”
Oldham inquiry
In 2022, an impartial inquiry by Higher Manchester Mixed Authority discovered that weak kids had been left uncovered to sexual exploitation in Oldham due to “critical failings” by the police and council.
However the report drew criticism for its restricted scope, specializing in instances between 2011 and 2014.
In July, Oldham Council, which is led by a Labour minority administration, asked the Home Office to lead a fuller inquiry into historical abuse in the area.
Phillips rejected the request, pointing to council-run inquiries in Rotherham and Telford, which she argued had higher legitimacy as a result of they had been regionally commissioned and delivered.
In a letter to the council, the safeguarding minister mentioned she recognised the “power of feeling” however believed it was “for Oldham Council alone to resolve to fee an inquiry into youngster sexual exploitation regionally, somewhat than for the Authorities to intervene”.
Conservative Oldham councillor Lewis Quigg mentioned the choice was “simply not ok”.
An Oldham Council spokesman mentioned: “Survivors sit on the coronary heart of our work to finish youngster sexual exploitation.
“No matter occurs when it comes to future inquiries, we have now promised them that their needs can be paramount, and we is not going to renege on that pledge.”
On X, Musk accused Sir Keir of failing to correctly prosecute “rape gangs” whereas he was director of public prosecutions.
However the tech billionaire was himself accused of “rewriting historical past” by Nazir Afzal, who Sir Keir appointed as particular prosecutor for youngster abuse and sexual exploitation, and oversaw quite a few convictions in opposition to different grooming gangs.
Mr Azfal mentioned: “Underneath Starmer’s management we lastly tackled these abuses, which had beforehand been dealt with poorly.”
Musk – who has been picked by US President-elect Donald Trump to steer a brand new Division of Authorities Effectivity – additionally criticised Phillips, stating she “deserves to be in jail” for her response to Oldham Council.
